By Hamutal Dotan

It is a truism in Toronto politics that municipal elections begin in earnest the day after Labour Day. That day has now arrived, and with it all the predictable frenzy. Mayoral candidates are sending out press releases faster than we can read them, and by our last count there are six debates this week alone.
Another truism: Toronto’s mayor, no matter how popular or articulate or reasoned or visionary, cannot get much of anything done without the support of council. Forty-four campaigns are being waged in addition to the one for mayor, and though they get far less attention than the mayor, city councillors are also instrumental to Toronto’s future and well-being.
To help shed some light on all this electoral outpouring, and especially to illuminate some of its less-discussed aspects, we are very happy to tell you about our brand new politics hub.
It starts with a central landing page—right here—on which you’ll find our most recent election stories, as well as an interactive map of the city; this map is your portal to separate pages for each of Toronto’s forty-four wards. Either click on the map or use the search bar underneath to find out which ward you live in (if you don’t already know), and you’ll be taken to a ward-specific page full of all kinds of goodies: a local map, some basic demographic information, ward profiles in both words and pictures, and links to coverage from our site as well as from other news outlets. Consider each page your one-stop guide to a different part of the city.
Forty-four wards is a lot, and we want to make sure they all get their due. We’re going to be rolling out the ward pages gradually, over the course of this week, to give each part of the city a bit of breathing room and you a bit of time to peruse. We are (fittingly), following our municipal government’s lead, and dividing the wards up according to the four Community Councils. Today we start with the western part of Toronto, in Etobicoke York.
To visit Torontoist’s politics hub, click right here.